The UN's World Meteorological Organization says 1997 was the warmest year since modern recordkeeping began in 1860. Warmed by El Niño, the Earth ran a temperature 0.44° C higher than the 16.5° C mean observed between 1961 and 1990 that the agency uses as a baseline. The previous record: 0.38° C above mean, in 1995. In an odd piece of jurisprudence, the agency cleared El Niño of responsibility for a string of Northern Hemisphere weather disasters.
Earth Fever
The UN's World Meteorological Organization says 1997 was the warmest year since modern recordkeeping began in 1860. Warmed by El Niño, the Earth ran a temperature 0.44° C higher than the 16.5° C mean observed between 1961 and 1990 that the agency uses as a baseline. The previous record: 0.38° C above mean, in 1995. In an odd piece of jurisprudence, the agency cleared El Niño of responsibility for a string of Northern Hemisphere weather disasters.
